The Derbyshire Registrar's Birth Index covers births registered in the English county of Derbyshire from the introduction of civil registration in 1837. There are 1,140,970 records available to search.

Before 1837, birth, marriage and death information in England was only recorded by churches. However there was recognition from Parliament that an accurate record of the population was needed for voting, planning and defense purposes. Birth, marriage and death registration for England and Wales began on July 1 1837.

Civil registration is based around registration districts. Each county is divided into districts and each district has a superintendent registrar who receives notice of all births, marriages and deaths. Each quarter the district superintendent registrar forwards copies of the district’s registrations to the Registrar General in London. The original records remain in the district. These are the records contained in this record set.

When the new system was set up many people simply didn't bother to register births. Some who already had children didn't realize the system had changed, others were confused. It wasn't until a change of law in 1874 which introduced fines for not registering a birth that the system became comprehensive. By 1875 99% of all births, marriages and deaths were being recorded.

Don’t forget to search the Derbyshire parish records as well as baptisms were, of course, still recorded by the churches.

Derbyshire is in the East Midlands of England. The southern extremity of the Pennine range of hills stretches into the north of the county. The country also contains part of the National Forest with Greater Manchester to the northwest, West Yorkshire to the north, South Yorkshire to the northeast, Nottinghamshire to the east and Leicestershire to the southeast. Staffordshire is to the west and southwest and Cheshire is also to the west.

These transcripts are here thanks to the hard work of the volunteers of the Derbyshire Family History Society.